I only print in black so why am I low on my coloured ink ????

[Bagpuss]

Hi, I'm a Picture Framer by trade and a few years ago I invested in a Ricoh
GXe3300 so I could print the nameplates for my framed Footy shirts ( see below ).

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This time last year I ordered a full set of sublimation inks for my Ricoh
GXe3300 (including black ).

Now, I never print in colour as I only do nameplates in black
yet the ink levels for the colour inks are showing as low ( see attached
photo ) and when I switched the printer on this morning it flashed "LOW
INK". The black ink is still showing full but I can't work out where the
coloured ink is going ??

I spoke to my supplier and they told me that I need to make sure I set the printer to print in Greyscale
and that some coloured inks will be used at startup and maintenance.

These inks are expensive aren't they and I find it a bit much that I have to renew the coloured inks when I don't even print in colour

I'd appreciate any advice on this and I was wondering if there are any monochrome dye-sub printers on the market ? ( bit of a long shot )

Thanks in advance,
Bagpuss

[Paul]

hello. Welcome on forum.

if you switch your printer ON and OFF your printer will charge some ink every time you switch it on. so is always good to have it on and let it go to stand by mode.
Also when you print black, the black ink is rarely used. black is combined from colours.

[RogerC]

The self cleaning process uses inks when cycling so if it's a few years on the one set of inks and you're only now getting a low ink warning I'd say you've done pretty well.

[purpledragon]

Also black print never uses just black ink there will always be a mix of colours to make the black

[socialgiraffe]

Also black print never uses just black ink there will always be a mix of colours to make the black

Especially if you are using something like Microsoft Word to print from as this will output in RGB.

[Skye]

If you are not using the Powerdriver software you can set the printer to only use black when printing black.
Go devices & printers -> Ricoh printer -> printing preferences -> printer configuration and untick "print black using 4 colours"
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[daviddeer]

It seems as if your printer is printing a composite black using a mixture of colours to achieve it rather than true black. Not being familiar with this printer I could not tell you if you can select true black as a print option. If printing from corel or photoshop check the onscreen black using the eyedropper tool and look at the cmyk (rgb) values.
Black (0,0,0,100) is not black; it is a dark gray. The reason it's gray, rather than black, is that the ink is partially absorbed by the paper and is in any case a very thin coating, so some of the white shows through. To get actual black on press, you must create what is called a "built black" or "rich black." This is usually something like 60/60/40/100, or 40/30/30/100. You can make a warmer black by using less cyan and more yellow, or a cooler black with more cyan and less yellow. That's a subtlety you want to get some practice with if you ever need to use it, because it can be tricky.

In InDesign and Illustrator there is a preference setting called "Appearance of Black" which can be set to display blacks "as black" or "accurately." For print work, you should always set these to display and print blacks accurately.
So your printer is actually mixing colour to produce a rich black. Printing in greyscale may obviate this problem but it may not as the printer may default to mixing colour rather than just using black. Perhaps you could get refillable gel cartridges and put black in all of them. The paper Might be a little oversaturated!

[purpledragon]

It seems as if your printer is printing a composite black using a mixture of colours to achieve it rather than true black. Not being familiar with this printer I could not tell you if you can select true black as a print option. If printing from corel or photoshop check the onscreen black using the eyedropper tool and look at the cmyk (rgb) values.
Black (0,0,0,100) is not black; it is a dark gray. The reason it's gray, rather than black, is that the ink is partially absorbed by the paper and is in any case a very thin coating, so some of the white shows through. To get actual black on press, you must create what is called a "built black" or "rich black." This is usually something like 60/60/40/100, or 40/30/30/100. You can make a warmer black by using less cyan and more yellow, or a cooler black with more cyan and less yellow. That's a subtlety you want to get some practice with if you ever need to use it, because it can be tricky.

In InDesign and Illustrator there is a preference setting called "Appearance of Black" which can be set to display blacks "as black" or "accurately." For print work, you should always set these to display and print blacks accurately.
So your printer is actually mixing colour to produce a rich black. Printing in greyscale may obviate this problem but it may not as the printer may default to mixing colour rather than just using black. Perhaps you could get refillable gel cartridges and put black in all of them. The paper Might be a little oversaturated!

blimy and i thought i was clever with my answer lol

[Bagpuss]

The self cleaning process uses inks when cycling so if it's a few years on the one set of inks and you're only now getting a low ink warning I'd say you've done pretty well.

I actually bought a new set of inks only a year ago and with no colour printing, all the non black inks are showing as low ???? I was wondering if removing them, giving them a good shake might help, not very technical I know but it might make me feel a bit better.... ; )

[Paul]

I actually bought a new set of inks only a year ago and with no colour printing, all the non black inks are showing as low ???? I was wondering if removing them, giving them a good shake might help, not very technical I know but it might make me feel a bit better.... ; )

have you read previous answers from others?
And no. Shaking would help with toners in laser printer. not with ink